John Norris (publisher)
John Norris (born June 9, 1934 in West Clandon , Surrey , England , † January 31, 2010 in Toronto ) was a British- born Canadian publisher and music producer, club owner, radio presenter and music organizer, who founded the music magazine CODA and the jazz label Sackville Records became known.
Life
Norris ran a jazz club in London and co-founded a Bunk Johnson fan club before moving to Montréal in 1956 . There he headed the Montreal Traditional Jazz Society in 1956/57 . In 1957 he settled in Toronto , where he directed the Traditional Jazz Club of Toronto ; later he opened the Galleon Jazz Club and organized concerts. In 1958 he founded CODA magazine, of which he was editor-in-chief until 1976, when Bill Smith took over and he became co-editor. Originally initiated as a newsletter of the Traditional Jazz Club , it appeared from 1959 with the subtitle The Canadian Jazz Magazine ; In 1976 as The Jazz Magazine and finally in 1984 as The Journal of Jazz and Improvised Music , with which it opened up to the more modern playing styles of jazz.
In 1967 he was asked by the New York pianist Red Richards to produce recordings with his band Saints & Sinners . The result was the jazz label Sackville Recordings, which Norris founded in 1968 with Bill Smith. Starting with recordings mainly of swing , mainstream jazz to modern jazz , such as by Ruby Braff , Henri Chaix , Doc Cheatham , Jim Galloway , Abdullah Ibrahim , Keith Ingham , Harold Mabern , Junior Mance , Jay McShann , Ralph Sutton , Barbara Sutton Curtis or Jesper Thilo , Norris and Smith later released recordings by jazz avant-garde such as Anthony Braxton , Julius Hemphill , Oliver Lake , Roscoe Mitchell and Archie Shepp .
Norris was also the manager of the jazz department from 1962 to 1968 at the Sam the Record Man record store on Toronto's Yonge Street, which grew into one of the largest collections of jazz recordings. It later became part of the mail order business at the Jazz and Blues Center , founded by Norris and Smith in 1970. In addition to his publishing activities, Norris was active as a radio presenter at the Toronto local broadcaster CHFI and at CBC . He also taught jazz history at the University of Toronto .
For his life's work, he was awarded the Canadian GMA Canada Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008 .
Web links
- Full portrait at Arts of Jazz
- Obituary in Ottawa Citizen
- John Norris ( English, French ) In: Encyclopedia of Music in Canada . published by The Canadian Encyclopedia .
Individual evidence
- ^ Obituary in Jazz Times
- ↑ a b Detailed portrait at Arts of Jazz ( Memento of the original from May 17, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Norris, John |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Canadian publisher and music producer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 9, 1934 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | West Clandon , Surrey, UK |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 31, 2010 |
| Place of death | Toronto |